MAGIC 8 BALL
by chibi-ruroun
Summary: It's all because of that magic 8 ball from konoha's joke and toy shop... SASUNARU chapter four is finally up!
1. Chapter 1

Title: Magic 8 Ball

By chibi-ruroun

Warning: shonen-ai (boy love) don't like it, don't read it.

Pairing: Sasunaru

Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Kishimoto-san

* * *

Tap. Tap. Tap. 

Sigh.

Silence.

"Neh, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura said, inching toward the raven-haired genin once more. Sasuke scowled and crossed his arms, looking warily at her.

"…" He gave a pointed look, frowning.

"W-Well, I was wondering where's Naruto? I mean, I know Kakashi-sensei is always late. But Naruto…" Sakura paused when she heard a rustling in the bushes next to the bridge where Team Seven meet for training or mission everyday. Sasuke appeared to have heard it as well and turned toward the source of the sound.

All of a sudden, among the green bushes, there appeared a tuft of golden yellow hair that stood out glaringly from the dull faded color of the surrounding flora. Sakura's eyes widened for a moment, before narrowing them in anger. Taking two big steps toward the bushes that revealed the suspicious yellow hair, she yanked it hard and pulled the person in the bushes out.

"Owowowowowowowowowowow….Sakura-chan. Wha're you doi'…" Naruto muffled a big yawn with his hand, his eyes still clouded with sleep. He wore a perplexed look as he stared up at the pink-haired kunoichi, wondering why was she in his house.

"What are you in my house, Sakura-chan…..eh? Where is this? Where am I?" Naruto's eyes darted around frantically. He looked very adorable, sitting on the paved road with a pout on his face and a confused countenance. However, only one of the two teammates agreed, and it's not Sakura.

"Naruto…" Sakura asked, "why in the world are you sleeping in a bush?"

"eh heheheheheh….um…I don't know?" He offered cutely, looking up at her. Sakura was livid! Naruto had been SLEEPING for the past three hours while she and Sasuke-kun had to stand there and wait for their stupid, lazy sensei to appear.

Before she could taken all her frustrations out on our poor Naru-chan, Sasuke spoke up.

"Hn…only an idiot would fall asleep and not remember anything…"

Naruto blinked. Then blinked again. Then blinked once more.

"Teme…FINE! I'll tell you." Naruto said, jumping back into the bushes. Sakura and Sasuke watched the bushes moving about as Naruto tried to find the object that he had hid in the bushes.

After ten painstaking minutes, Sakura was about to explode and strode forward to the bushes once more. However, before she could yank Naruto's blonde hair, Naruto wiggled himself out the bushes and –

"TADAAA" He held out a peculiar, black, circular object with a white number '8' written on the back of the ball and a small black screen on the opposite side. There was a complete silence before Sakura burst out.

"What's this, Naruto?" Naruto's grinned.

"It's call the Magic 8 Ball. It's the newest edition from Konoha's number one Joke-and-Toy shop."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but asked anyways.

"What does this black ball do? I bet it's just some crappy toy."

"Teme – it's not a black ball. It's a Magic 8 Ball! And it's awesome. It'll help you make all kinds of 'yes and no' decisions…" Sakura looked confused.

"Help you make…decisions?" Naruto beamed at her and nodded endearingly.

"How?"

"Allow to demonstrate." Naruto faked a cough and raised his two hands dramatically, holding onto the black ball, took a deep breath (by this time, Sakura's right eye is twitching with irritation), and asked a question. His voice ringed loudly across the bridge.

"Will Sakura-chan finally realize my 'cool-ness' and go on a date with me?"

Sakura was about to hit Naruto over the head when Naruto, with his face comically grave face, held up a hand to stop her and slowly rotating the black ball in his other hand, the blank screen on the ball face down.

Slowly, he turned the ball upside down and closed his hand over the black screen. Naruto carefully opened his squinted eyes and stared down at his covered hand. Sakura had enough.

"Well!" Naruto continued and uncovered his hands to see what was written on the screen. Then he stared and stared until he broke down and sobbed out loud, the ball still clutched in his hands as he sat down on the ground. Sakura hit Naruto over the head.

"What the heck are you bawling out your eyes about? What did the ball say?"

"I-I don't want to say it…" Naruto's eyes darted to Sasuke then back to Sakura. There is NO WAY he'll say it in front of Sasuke. He'll tease him about it forever…there's no doubt.

"Naruto…" Sakura said, annoyed and moved toward to take the ball from his hand. Naruto scrambled upward and held his hands away. All of a sudden the ball was taken out of his hand and Naruto hastily turned around.

"Wha – Sasuke-teme! Give it back!" But Sasuke quickly jumped to the high branch above and read the black screen. It says:

MY SOURCES SAYS NO

Sasuke read it aloud and muffled a chuckle. However, Naruto had good hearing and his face reddened in anger and he huffed.

"S-Shut up, teme…It was a stupid toy anyways."

Sasuke's smirk widened. He descended gracefully and handed the ball back to Naruto. His bored voice drawled, the smirk still in place.

"See, I was right…again." Naruto looked at his teammates. Sakura smiled at Sasuke and giggled a bit. Sasuke appeared smugger than ever. Argh! He can't stand his rival who always make him look bad in front of his true love.

Naruto's eyes stared to water, for some weird reason, so he quickly looked down and to cover his face with his blonde locks and mumbled softly to himself.

"I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not cry…"

Sakura's giggle did nothing to make him feel better. 'Why did I buy this stupid toy anyways!'

He felt very angry all of a sudden and threw the black ball into the bushes. Hard. Hopefully, the black ball is broken. Then, he turned to his bewildered teammates and squint his eyes together so they couldn't see the hurt in those expressive eyes.

"When Kakashi-sensei comes, tell him that I don't feel well…Ja." Not even bothering to wave at Sakura, Naruto dashed away.

And missed the rare concerned look on his male teammate's face.

* * *

A/N: I was just cleaning the room when I re-found my brother's magic eight ball and the idea for this story just pop out of nowhere. R&R plz. 


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Magic 8 Ball

By chibi-ruroun

Warning: shonen-ai (boy love) don't like it, don't read it.

Pairing: Sasunaru

Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine weep and run away

* * *

Sasuke walked around Konoha, walking next to his annoying teammate – Sakura – who couldn't seem to stop talking. However, his mind was somewhere else. Sasuke was…yep you'd guessed it…wondering where is the cute little Naru-chan. After Naruto had left, Kakashi told them that the mission today is to find their missing teammate. Sasuke thought it was a good idea, though he simply gave an indifferent shrug and faked an slightly irritated 'hn' before walking off. Sakura, being her usual pathetic little self, trailed after him like a lost puppy, and complained about their task. After an hour or so, Sakura switched to her stupid chattering mode, talking about boring things like make-ups and the upcoming fall festival in October, and making suggested shy glances that hinted maybe both of them ought to go together. 

'No way in hell!' Inner Sasuke shouted as the outer Sasuke just ignored her petty advances. He tuned her out soon as his mind drifted off to his other teammate – Naruto.

'I wonder where'd he gone…he's not at his house, not at Ichiraku ramen stand, not at Iruka-sensei's house…not at the academy…ahh – the Hokage Mountain!' Sasuke was about to open his mouth and tell Sakura but quickly stopped. After Sasuke finished having an intense debate with his inner self, Sasuke nodded mentally and turned toward Sakura.

"Sakura." Sasuke's curt voice made Sakura choked on her words. Sasuke almost smirked. Inner Sasuke was dancing around with glee, waving a sign that said 'loser'.

"Y-yes, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura looked expectantly at Sasuke. 'Finally he's going to ask me to the fall festival and we'll kiss and live happily ever after and Ino will be so jealous that she'd cry...HELL YEAH!'

Sasuke shook his head, mentally, at Sakura's lovey dovey eyes and sighed, again, mentally, at how easy he was able to read her emotion. 'She really should focus more on her ninja skill than love………gosh she looks so dumb when she's in her fan girl mode…'

"Let's call it a day. I have something to do." With that, he left before Sakura could recover from her disappointment.

"Wait, Sasuke-kun! How about a date!"

Silence greeted her.

At Hokage Mountain

As Sasuke had predicted, our adorable Naru-chan was brooding at one of the four Hokages' head, the Yondaime. Naruto had found out that Yondaime was his father from Sandaime after another attempted murder at the October festival which celebrated the fall of Kyuubi. He frowned and closed his eyes against the sunlight and sighed moodily.

"Hey, oyaji…" he spoke grumpily, "I don't know why Sakura-chan wouldn't go out with me, why Sasuke-teme is such an asshole, why Kakashi-sensei is always playing favorite, why Iruka-sensei never have time fore me, why old man Sandaime is always so busy with paper work…I don't know if anyone care for me at all…why do I still feel so alone even though there are some people that, I think, care about me…

"Sometimes, I just want to cry…but then I remembered that crying doesn't solve anything…besides my nose will become stuffy and uncomfortable. Smiling is so much easier…hey! You know, oyaji, that smiling takes less energy and you don't feel so tired afterward, though at the beginning my jaws were kinda like stuck and had stayed that way for many days. You're eyes don't feel so puffy and hard to see…"

Naruto stared downwards at the village below. He gave a soft, gentle smile with a hint of defeated bitterness.

"No matter how much I tried, I couldn't feel loved…I couldn't gain everyone's acceptance about Kyuubi…I…I-I…"

It had been six years since the assassination attempts Naruto and Naruto had cried his last tears then. At that time, Sandaime had said something that had made Naruto laughed and smiled and commented that Naruto's genuine smile is the most painfully beautiful thing one could witness, and Naruto had merely looked at the old man like he had grown a second head and said 'ol' man! Stop speak riddle-thingy…' The hokage smiled down at Naruto and patted his head.

"You have a beautiful smile. Keep it on for always."

Being a smart six-year-old, Naruto had understood that, and continued smiling despite all the cold glares thrown toward him. However phony his smile may be, he still kept it on, because the old man had said it's beautiful.

Drip.

Drip, drip.

Drip, drip, drip.

Splatter…..

And after so many years, Naruto could not hold the sadness in any longer.

And after so many years, Naruto finally let loose his emotion.

And after so many years, Naruto began to wept.

* * *

A/N: plz read and review. Cookies for the reviewers. TBC… 

To Red Asatari, Cherry Daze, and Jo: arigato (sankyuu!) i'll do my best with this story.

To keele-cray: thanks and that's very...interesting smile


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Magic 8 Ball

By chibi-ruroun

Warning: shonen-ai (boy love) don't like it, don't read it.

Pairing: Sasunaru

Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Kishimoto-san

"Argh! Dammit, stupid bush!" A passerby could hear loud swearing coming from within the bushes, but there was no passerby, as it was raining hard. Finally, Sasuke's hand hit something hard and a little muddy. Grimacing, Sasuke picked it up and allowed a grin of triumph to grace his face for a fleeting moment. Then it was gone and Sasuke looked downright angry. He wasn't really angry, of course, just very worried about Naruto. 'He's probably still sitting on Yondaime's head…pouting. I wonder if I should go and invite him over to my house…to make sure he get dried up right, that's all. I bet he doesn't have good heater at his beaten down old apartment…'

Then an idea occurred to him as his eyes were drawn to the black ball in his hand.

"Hey, I could use…" Sasuke quickly shook his head and thought. 'Naruto's making me do weird things again…' But after a moment of fighting with his Inner self, Sasuke complied and softly asked the question.

"Should I ask Naruto over to my house to make sure he isn't sick?"

The survivor of the Uchiha clan would appear extremely comical right now to anyone that was still lurking about outside, but there was no one. His expression was of a serious concentration, with a twist in his brow as he tried to copy what Naruto had did hours ago before Naruto had ran away.

Turning the ball around, Sasuke took a quick glance at the screen and smiled.

"I guess that's that, then…" He carefully tucked the ball into his pouch after cleaning the ball's surface.

No one had witnessed the fast moving blur heading toward the Hokage Mountain from the rainy weather.

At the Hokage Mountain

Naruto was curled up tightly, hugging his knees to his chest, rocking back and forth and mumbling incoherent speech as he cried. He disregarded the gloomy weather around him, the pouring rain, and the lack of body heat he had in his body. Somewhere in the back of his mind he had wondered would he get sick because he'd stayed out in the rain all night. But he knew that he rarely got sick because of what he held inside his body.

Naruto was so drowned in the painful feeling in his chest and the burning in his eyes and the aching in his heart that he failed to detect a person's appearance. That "person" would be Sasuke, who was watching Naruto anxiously. He was uncertain now as to whether or not he should announce his own presence to the sobbing blonde. 'He's probably mad at me…maybe he'll be madder if I appear…maybe I should wait until he's cried himself to sleep?'

He took out the ball in his pouch once more and whispered the question before rotating the black ball. Then he read the message.

REPLY HAZY TRY AGAIN

Sasuke gritted his teeth and asked the question again.

ASK AGAIN LATER

Frustrated, he tried again. He glanced worriedly at Naruto as he asked the ball the same question once more.

CONCENTRATE AND ASK AGAIN

Sasuke was ready to pull his hair out. He was so mad!

"Stupid ball…just answer the damn question."

Shake. Shake. Shake.

BETTER NOT TELL YOU NOW

At this, Sasuke growled loudly, forgetting that he should be quiet if he didn't want Naruto to know that he was there. Unfortunately, Naruto had stopped crying as much and had heard a growl from somewhere behind him in the trees.

'Huh?' Naruto looked back and saw Sasuke baring his teeth at a black ball…

"S-Sasuke? W-Wha're y-you…d-doing (hiccup) here?" Naruto rubbed his eyes hastily to get rid of his tears. 'If teme asked I'll say it's the rain…'

Sasuke cussed silently at himself for being discovered. 'Oh well, so much for that, stupid ball…' He huffed angrily and stuffed the irritating black sphere back into his pouch. He sighed and jumped down from above, knowing that it was futile trying to hide from Naruto anymore.

"Why are you crying, Naruto?" Sasuke blurted out directly. Naruto appeared sad for a moment, and then his eyes lit up with unsuppressed rage. Sasuke almost took a step back at the amount of pain and anger swirling in Naruto's beautiful cerulean orbs. Sasuke found himself speechless.

"What do you care…(hiccup) y-you're just like the other. You're always treating everyone as if they aren't good enough for you and you always turn S-sakura-chan away from dates like it's nothing at all. It h-hurts her every single (hiccup) time and yet you still refuse her! I know I would never do that to her…And you always acted so s-smug and great in front of her and make me look (hiccup) bad and…and…you always call me names…Dobe this and dobe that…You hate me and would not notice if anything were to happen to me…so stop pretending that you cared!" Naruto shouted at Sasuke, his whole body shaking, from both the chilliness and fury. He was tired and cold and hungry. His heart was aching and his mouth blurted out random insults because he felt too hurt to care. That was, until Naruto lifted his eyes to meet Sasuke's stormy gaze. Sasuke found his voice and he was livid. How dare he…

"...You think that I wouldn't care that something were to happen to you! You think that I want to hurt Sakura?...You don't know what you're saying. What do you think I'm doing here for, in the middle of the rain? I could be at home training or sleeping if I did care less about you…I could be at other places so I'd be dry and warm if I had not cared. Do you even know why the hell I'm here? I don't even know why the heck I am doing here anymore? Why the hell am I here asking you why you'd shed your tears?"

Sasuke looked very bad right now. The rain had washed away the hair jell and the black locks clung sloppily to the side of his countenance. His navy shirt was soaked thoroughly and so is his white…or now muddied…pants. Sasuke knew he looked pathetic right now, but he didn't care. Naruto had insulted him and wronged him in every way that Sasuke thought a person could be wronged and he felt extremely hurt. Sasuke by himself is a hard person to understand; a hurt and maimed Uchiha is an even harder human being to comprehend…

"You know what: forget what I'd said. I'm just a stuck up Uchiha after all…I don't know what came over me. Go back to your self-pity crying. I'm leaving." Without waiting for a reply, Sasuke disappeared among the trees.

Naruto was left standing there with an outstretched hand and his mouth opened but no sound. Slowly, Naruto closed his mouth and dragged himself back to his own apartment, his eyes staring at the ground the whole way.

A/N: Please review! Free cupcakes for previous reviewers! Yay!

Chibi (me): Guess what?

Naruto: (dumbly but adorably) what?

Sasuke: (hit Naruto over head) Dobe!

Naruto: (rubbing his head) owie…mou, you're so mean, Sasuke-chan

Sasuke: (turning slightly pink) well, you're being stupid. It's the authoress's birthday tomorrow, dumbass!

Chibi: Oh, Sasuke's blushing! Yay! Now I can cross off one thing from my birthday list!

Naruto: (pouts) what about me? What can I give you?

Chibi: (evil glint in her eyes) I want Naru-chan to belong to me forever!

Naruto: (open mouth to agree) –

Sasuke: (interrupt) NO #&&$ way! Naruto's mine! sharingan swirling dangerously

Chibi: (backing away slowly, hands in front) ok, ok…(mumbling)that possessive uchiha is so troublesome…

Shikamaru: Hey don't steal my line…(muttering) troublesome woman…


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Magic 8 Ball

By chibi-ruroun

Warning: shonen-ai (boy love) don't like it, don't read it.

Pairing: sasunaru

Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Kishimoto-san

* * *

The next day, Team Seven waited quietly at the bridge. Sakura noticed that Sasuke and Naruto had avoided looking at each other and could feel a strange tension between her two male teammates but decided not to pry (a/n: for once!) into their business.Sasuke looked more irritated than usual and Naruto seemed like a puppy that was kicked aside and neglected. 

'I wonder what happened yesterday…did something happened between them?' Sakura was pondering about this when she spotted Kakashi next to her.

"YOU'RE LATE!" She was surprised to only hear her voice. She frowned at Naruto a bit. 'Gee…he's so weird today…'

"Well…Mr. Ukki was feeling down so I decided to read Icha Icha Paradise to him…"

"PERVERT!" Sakura screeched, her lone voice echoed across the bridge.

Kakashi noticed the silence between the two boys and decided some more team work needed to be done. Something must have happened yesterday between those two and that problem needed to be resolved or else Team Seven's teamwork may deteriorate even further and he can't have that happening! Obito and Rin and Arashi-sensei are all counting on him!

"Well…since there's no mission today, Naruto and Sasuke will fight taijutsu with each other while I upgrade Sakura's stamina training."

Two boys ignored each other's presence but grudgingly got into their battle stance and started fighting. Their spar was quiet and furious, one hit after another. The feeling of rivalry and the numerous taunting comments and the comebacks were absent today. All in all, their training felt wrong, and Kakashi was determined to find out the problem why and end that silence. When he was done with Sakura, he sent her home. Then, he stopped the boys.

"Ok, that's enough for today. Sasuke, who said you can leave? Naruto, you too. Both of you, come over here." Kakashi gave them both a hard look.

"I don't know what's wrong with you guys, and I don't think that you will answer me if I'd asked you anyways, but I will sit over there…" he pointed to the other side of Team Seven's training ground. "…and wait until you guys figure out the answer to your problems." He turned to walk away while commenting, "And glaring at me wouldn't work…I'll be waiting." Kakashi did just that. He sat there and took out his book and began reading, though it was clear that he was making sure they were not running away.

Sasuke glared to the side and Naruto starred at the ground, both of them refused to speak for a long time. Then, Naruto whispered.

"…sorry…" And maybe it was because of the tone that Naruto had used when he said that word, or maybe it was the way his voice seemed so small and forlorn that Sasuke finally turned to look at the blonde teammate. He saw that Naruto had his fists clenched tightly to his side, his shoulders shaking, and his head bent forward so that his bangs covered his amazing cerulean eyes.

"Sorry…I'm sorry…sorry…" Naruto repeated those words again and again, his voice wavering. Sasuke frowned. 'Is he crying?' His question was confirmed when something fell from behind the blond locks. Sasuke could be angry and mad and hurt and pissed off at an equally angry and mad and hurt and pissed off Naruto, but he couldn't when Naruto seemed so heartbreakingly teary. He just couldn't. He wanted to stop Naruto from crying and being sad. So he did something that he'd never done before. He took Naruto into his arms and hugged him tightly, with one arm around his waist and the other buried into his wild, blond strands.

"Sa…(hiccup)suke?" Naruto's muffled voice from Sasuke's blue shirt sounded bemused and tentative. 'Why is he hugging me? Wasn't he mad at me?'

"It's ok, Naruto. I'm…sorry, too…" For calling you names and making fun of you all the time, Sasuke finished in his mind.

Sasuke was surprised when Naruto disentangled himself from within Sasuke's embrace and hugged him back, pulling Sasuke closer to him.

"I didn't (hiccup) mean it…all those (hiccup) things…but I was sad and…and (hiccup)…" Sasuke shushed him.

"Shhhh…I understand…" Sasuke ran his finger absent-mindedly through Naruto's hair, making Naruto feel droopy and weary.

The two boys stood there for a while before Sasuke felt Naruto's weight shifted and became a little heavier. He called out quietly.

"Naruto?" No replies. Sasuke glanced down and his face almost melted into a smile. Naruto had fallen asleep in his arms, his tear-stained face was burrowed into Sasuke's chest due to Naruto's short height. The moment would've been so perfect had someone not interrupted.

"Now that's not so hard to solve, is it? You better take Naruto home, or you can just bring him with you to your house…how's that sound? Hey! Don't glare at your teacher! It's rude! And you should thank me…without me pushing you guys, your argument or whatever it was wouldn't be solve until next month or something…Anyways, I've got to get home to feed my dolphin. He'll be waiting. Oh! Almost forgot! Tomorrow is October 10th and I want you guys to be dressed up for it! Ja!" With a 'poof!', Kakashi vanished.

"Hn." Sasuke said softly before balancing himself and reaching into his pouch for the black ball. He asked if he should bring Naruto to his house.

IT IS DECIDEDLY SO

Sasuke smiled at the reply and pocketed the ball again. Then, he gently carried Naruto to the Uchiha compound (piggy-back style) by going through a short-cut route so no one will see them.

Two hours later…

Naruto opened his eyes and rubbed them as he glanced about blearily. 'Where am I?' he thought, sleepily. 'didn't look like my house…wait!'

Naruto bolted upright. Then, he smiled at the sight before him. Sasuke had his head laid down on his arms on the table and was sleeping soundly. Naruto noticed that Sasuke had placed a blanket around him on the couch. 'Maybe he really does care…maybe I just didn't know…' Naruto's stomach grumbled. 'I'm hungry…'

Suddenly he heard a soft mewl on the side. Naruto turned and almost squealed! It's so adorable! On the side of the couch sat a black kitten with a white ear and white tail. It meowed once more before padding softly next to Sasuke's legs and nudged his toes with the tip of its pink nose. Naruto couldn't help but snickered softly at the sight. Apparently, Naruto's 'softly' wasn't too soft, since Sasuke, the light sleeper, woke up immediately. His bewildered expression almost brought Naruto to another fit of snickering. Sasuke didn't notice Naruto yet, but he did look down and see his cat and, to Naruto's shock and fascination, smiled gently before cooing softly at his pet, caressing its fur gently.

"Are you hungry, Shinji-chan?" Sasuke asked softly before scooping up the kitten and into his arms, cuddling it softly to himself. "Sorry I didn't feed you yet but I was tired when I carried Naruto…" all of a sudden, Sasuke's brain began working again. "Naruto!" Sasuke glanced around and found Naruto looking at him with a face that was barely containing his laughter. Finally, Naruto couldn't hold it in anymore.

"You should've seen your face…gosh it was hilarious!" Naruto laughed. Sasuke thought how nice it was that Naruto was finally laughing again until he realized that Naruto was laughing at him!

"Oh, Sasuke," Naruto teased, "You're so cute!"

'Oh my god, he saw me with Shinji!' Sasuke blushed at his caring display for his cat.

Sasuke stubborn turned his face to the other side and chose to ignore Naruto's noisy banter. He waited until the pinkness vanished from his cheeks.

"Hn." He scratched Shinji behind his ears and Shinji purred contently against Sasuke. Naruto was awed. He'd never seen this side of Sasuke. 'I guess I was wrong about him…'

Naruto's stomach grumbled again. Sasuke smirked at him and Naruto blushed, scratching the back of his head, embarrassed.

"Um…do you have any food? That is…uh…if you don't mind letting me eat…I mean…" Sasuke rolled his eyes. He stood up and walked out the living room.

"Naruto, shut up. Go take a shower first; you can borrow my clothes if you like, and then come to the kitchen and I'll have something ready for you."

Naruto blinked. Then he called after Sasuke, his voice held a tinge of hopefulness.

"Ramen?" Sasuke couldn't help but smirk arrogantly, even though he knew Naruto couldn't see him.

"In your dreams, dobe."

Naruto bristled and was about to retort, when he paused at the nickname that Sasuke had uttered. 'If I'm hearing right…does the way he'd called me dobe sounded almost…endearing?' Naruto shook his head disbelievingly.

'Whatever. I'm going to take a shower.'

After drying himself with one of Sasuke's towel ('I can't believe even his towels have the Uchiha symbols on them…' thought Naruto incredulously), Naruto dug through Sasuke's closets to find a blue shirt that didn't bear the Uchiha emblem on it.

"I wonder why he only wore blue and black and white colors…Orange is so much better…" Naruto frowned a bit, nodding as if agreeing with himself. Speaking of orange, Naruto decided to wear his own orange pants (he had placed his pants into the dryer before heading for shower), instead of wearing those weird white shorts that Sasuke always wore.

Finished dressing, Naruto dashed quickly to the kitchen, and saw Sasuke finished baking bacons and eggs. Sasuke didn't notice Naruto yet, as his back was facing the kitchen's doorway. He took two pieces of bacons and laid them down in Shinji's plate and watched his cat eat contentedly. Naruto smiled softly to himself.

It was a peaceful moment before Naruto's stomach decided to disrupt it. Sasuke smirked as he turned towards Naruto and began setting up the table. Naruto pouted.

"Mou, I wanted ramen…" Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Normally one shouldn't even be thinking about ramen when it's…" Sasuke glanced at the clock by the stove. "…five o'clock in the morning." Naruto stuck out his tongue in defiance.

"Well, I'm not just anybody…I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the soon-to-be 5th Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato! And…" Naruto rambled on between each bite of his early breakfast and failed to notice the small, amused smile and warm gaze from Sasuke.

"Naruto," Sasuke interrupted Naruto's monologue and ignored Naruto's annoyed glance.

"Kakashi-sensei said that he wanted all of us to dress up for today for the October festival" Sasuke frowned worriedly. Naruto's liveliness seemed to dim to a tiny speck. His cerulean eyes were cast downward and his smile was gone. 'What's wrong with him?'

"Naruto?" Sasuke questioned tentatively. Naruto pushed the chair back and stood up, breakfast forgotten. He faked a smile that was too wide and too happy and too wrong in every way. 'Why's he pretending to be smiling now?' Sasuke felt a tiny bit of sadness and a tint of irritation and anger. 'What'd I do?'

"Well, I guess I have to go buy a yukata now before Kakashi-sensei yell at me, heh heh…Ja!" Naruto turned to go.

"Wait!" Sasuke called out, his voice held a slight desperate edge to it. Naruto turned slowly. He looked confused.

"What?" Sasuke pushed down the urge to blurt out what's wrong. Last time he did that they'd began an all-out verbal fight that had hurt both of them.

"It's still early, so the stores won't be opened…" Naruto appeared even more puzzled.

"So?" Sasuke shuffled a bit, nervous.

"You can borrow one of mine…" Naruto shook his head.

"I don't need your pity, Sasuke." Sasuke felt the irritation came back, but this time it was stronger.

"Damn it, Naruto! You know I'm the last person in Konoha that would ever pity you…" Pausing a second, Sasuke whispered the last part, hoping that Naruto would not catch it.

"…b-but I do care about you…" Sadly, luck wasn't on his side and Naruto heard him. After a moment of silence, Naruto turned his face away from Sasuke so that Sasuke won't see the flustered expression on his face.

"Fine, bastard. I'll borrow one of your yukata, then."

* * *

a/n: SAT IIs are coming up soon. So I'll update when I can! R&R please! And thanx to the reviewers for reviewing. You guys are the best! 


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